Amaranth plant in full flower
You start a conversation you can't even finish it.
You're talkin' a lot, but you're not sayin' anything.
When I have nothing to say, my lips are sealed.
Say something once, why say it again?
The Talking Heads
You know you are falling behind when your mom asks, "Are you o.k.? You haven't been blogging." Yes, I'm fine, just writing. As in the fifth chapter for the Highway 89 project. Writing is fully engaging. It takes all my energy to sit until either words come out of the pen or my fingers bleed. I set a daily goal of 3 hours (seems like not so much, so go ahead and try it, report back, I won't laugh. Three hours with a pen in hand is a lifetime.) Afterwards, or while procrastinating, I go out into the Palace Potager and walk about looking for little things to accomplish, and to admire the Amaranth.
The potager, all 300 sq ft of it, has a number of experiments in train, including Florence fennel, Brussels sprouts, parsnips and the great amaranth trials. I grew amaranth only because I read that it could yield one pound per plant, and I didn't believe it. Getting to this point was a real commitment to knowledge because we had such a late spring that even the reliable crops like zucchini didn't sprout; getting a short row of amaranth to transplant size took two plantings and lots of TLC. Once the first plant reached 2', however, it took off with a mind of its own.
Now I'm scared, and partially convinced that I have discovered a carbon sink that will solve climate change. To put a scale on the photo, the top leaves are about 9" long, and the camera is looking up to about 10'. If the birds don't get to it, and if R's re-staking assistance after the thunderstorm this weekend works, we will have more amaranth than I know what to do with. Actually, any amaranth harvest will tax my knowledge. I read you can pop it like popcorn. Luckily, only three plants survived, two of them from the second planting. It's sufficient for this experiment and for blog fodder. Blog fodder is good, because the AT writing process is pretty boring to watch, as in molasses pouring or government legislative sessions. The final product won't be boring--I'm really excited about where the book is going--but I've stockpiled a bunch of potager photos to feed the blog just in case. Zucchini anyone?
P.S. Send amaranth recipes
Comments (1)
I don't have any recipes for Amaranth, but I have eaten it before at my mom's house. She buys Amaranth cold cereal. It's pretty good.
Posted by Annie | September 18, 2008 9:37 PM
Posted on September 18, 2008 21:37